10 Startup Setbacks And How To Solve Them For Good

What is one common issue that you have faced with startup hires and how have you rectified the situation?

The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council, an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to unemployment and underemployment and provides entrepreneurs with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of their business' development and growth.

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"Team members, especially those from more traditional industries, may not be used to the change and fast pace involved in a startup. Some hires can get frustrated if the company changes direction on a project. Rectify this friction by making sure to communicate regularly the progress of the company and create a comfortable environment for questions so work is always aligned."

"There is nothing more wasteful than spending you and your teammates' time interviewing candidates who turn out to be an obviously bad fit because their skills don't align with our needs. Set criteria for roles very clearly. Be transparent about what you are looking for in a candidate, and let them know about your culture. Your goal should be to have the right people self-selecting to interview!"

"In a startup you need to think entrepreneurially, take a project and run with it. Startup hires should remember to act first, and ask questions later. There is nothing worse than an employee who does nothing all day because they were waiting around for someone to tell them what to do. If you are going to work for an entrepreneur, you better start acting like one."

"For one position, we experienced a lot of turnover due to the fact that our company does everything virtually. Although working virtually means we have flexible hours, candidates didn't understand the level of commitment necessary for the job. To fix this, we changed the job description and requirements to emphasize the time commitment the position required -- and implemented video pre-interviews."

"Not everyone can adapt to the 'free-for-all' environment that is a startup, and some startup hires (and the startups hiring them) get frustrated when tasks aren't handed to them, but they have to actively find work and be productive. One way to rectify the situation is framing the new hire's state-of-mind such that they start thinking about problems to solve and actionable solutions."

"Oftentimes, the best applicants are not the best interviewers, and vice versa. This makes it very tricky to bring on the right talent, as the best interviewers might be poor workers. To solve this issue, I recommend a "trial day" -- putting the person to work for a half- or full day in order to see how they do the actual job you are hiring them for."

"Interviewing candidates allows us to determine how knowledgeable they are, but in many instances, such knowledge doesn't translate to execution capabilities. In order to avoid that issue, we're now running contests: We hire the top three candidates for a month or so as consultants, have them compete in several projects, and offer the job to the best-performing one. The results are great!"

"When you hire someone and they don't directly report to you, it is often difficult to tell if they're a good fit -- in skill and corporate culture. You must trust your instincts and detect issues when they're small; chances are if you recognize an issue from afar, it's been a problem for those directly with them for some time. Stay in communication with the new hire's co-workers to avoid this problem."

"Often startups are strapped for cash, which makes it difficult to attract the best people from a salary basis alone. However, a lot of people aren't completely monetary and would gladly join an organization if additional benefits that suited their interests were present. Include things like flexible schedules, a positive project scope, your existing team itself or even stock options."

"At first, we hired positional experts. We found extremely capable talent, but suffered from high turnover. Many left for greener pastures and most never shared the company vision anyway. Now, we look for people who fit the company culture first and foremost. We can teach positional skills, but personality, loyalty and work ethic are innate."